Strengthening Integrity Keynotes2023-05-10T12:42:58-05:00

Videos
Strengthen Your Integrity as a Pastor and a Church

It’s an ancient concept and the word integrity entered the English language in the 1400’s. Integrity is an unimpaired condition, a soundness of mind and action. The goal is to strengthen pastors and churches in soundness of mind and action.

All times Central time zone

9 am—Michael Martin & Jake Lapp, Can Your Church Be Trusted? These 7 Standards Can Help
10 am—Mike Batts, Tone at the Top
11 am—Brad Leeper, 5 Curious and Little Explored Questions that Link Integrity, Biblical Stewardship and Leadership
Noon—Chris Lewis, Reporting to Enhance Integrity
1 pm—Greg Love, Integrity is Revealed (not created) in a Sexual Abuse Crisis
2 pm—David Middlebrook, What It Means to Live with Integrity
3 pm—Rob Faulk, The Role of Your Church Board in Providing Financial Oversight

Can Your Church Be Trusted? These 7 Standards Can Help

Michael Martin
President, ECFA

Michael Martin became ECFA’s president in 2020. Both an attorney and a CPA, he had previously served on ECFA staff for nine years, most recently as Executive Vice President. Michael is passionate about helping churches and Christ-centered ministries maintain high standards of integrity and accountability through ECFA accreditation. He is a frequent speaker on ECFA’s webinars, videos, and podcasts, as well as a regular contributor to ECFA’s library of ebooks and other written publications.

Jake Lapp
Vice President of Member Accountability, ECFA

Jake Lapp serves ECFA as vice president of member accountability, where he works mainly with current ECFA members in maintaining compliance with ECFA Standards. Jake enjoys getting to work with members through the annual renewal process, Standards Check-in program, formal compliance reviews, and answering questions regarding compliance with ECFA Standards and best practices.

Jake joined the ECFA team after working in public accounting and denominational leadership. Jake values the opportunity to work closely with ministries and churches of all sizes as they seek to enhance trust in their organization.

Resources

Tone at the Top

Mike Batts
Managing Partner, BMWL

Mike is the managing partner of Batts Morrison Wales & Lee. He has more than 30 years of experience serving nonprofit organizations in a variety of ways. Mike actively engages in nonprofit legislative matters at the federal and state levels. He has served on and chaired the boards of nonprofit organizations, both nationally and locally, such as the ECFA and the Commission on Accountability and Policy for Religious Organizations.

In 2013, Mike was inducted into the National Association of Church Business Administration Hall of Fame for his significant contributions to the church community. Mike is author of Church Finance—The Church Leader’s Guide to Financial Operations, a go-to reference that provides practical guidance for church and nonprofit financial administration; and Nonprofit Financial Oversight—The Concise and Complete Guide for Boards and Finance Committees; and Board Member Orientation—The Concise and Complete Guide to Nonprofit Board Service.

5 Curious and Little Explored Questions that Link Integrity, Biblical Stewardship and Leadership

Brad Leeper
Executive Vice President,
Generis

Brad Leeper is the Executive Vice President of Generis Partners. His unique approach allows him to serve larger and growing churches with significant funding requirements. Brad has a strong understanding of the multi-site church strategy and other pioneering church movements. He is drawn to larger, innovative, growing churches and the challenges of helping them expand in the area of generosity practically and spiritually.

Financial Reporting to Enhance Integrity

Chris Lewis
Senior Relationship Manager
Thrivent Church Financing

Chris Lewis is a Senior Relationship Manager at Thrivent Church Financing. Born in Brazil, where his parents served as missionaries, Chris learned 3 languages: Spanish, Portuguese and English. In 2006, after assisting the church he was attending with a capital campaign, Chris discovered that there was a need for lenders to work with growing ministries. Over the years, Chris has worked with growing ministries by providing sustainable financing solutions for construction, acquisition and refinancing.

Integrity is Revealed (not created) in a Sexual Abuse Crisis

Gregory S. Love
Attorney at Love & Norris
Founder of MinistrySafe

Gregory S. Love is a recognized expert in legal standards of care related to child sexual abuse, with a passion for equipping ministry leaders with an understanding of sexual abuse issues facing the Church. Litigating sexual abuse cases on behalf of victims across the United States, his unique perspective provides valuable counsel to high profile secular clients, while supplying crisis response to ministries and churches nationwide. Greg regularly trains underwriting and risk management professionals to assess sexual abuse risk. He earned a B.A. in Accounting from Texas Tech University in 1987, followed by a Juris Doctor in Law from Texas Tech School of Law, where he served on the law review.

Resources: MinistrySafe XPastor page

What It Means to Live with Integrity

David Middlebrook
Attorney, The Church Lawyers

David is one of the country’s leading practitioners in the area of religious nonprofit organizations. His clients include high-profile charitable and religious organizations, both domestic and international. He has an in-depth knowledge of risk management for charities, religious organizations, private schools, and universities. David is the founding shareholder of churchlawyers.com

The Role of Your Church Board in Providing Financial Oversight

Rob Faulk
Partner and Church and Denomination Services Director, CapinCrouse

Rob Faulk is a Partner and Church and Denomination Services Director at CapinCrouse. Rob has more than 40 years of financial leadership experience in serving both for-profit and nonprofit entities, as well as more than eight years of direct ministry experience as Executive Pastor and CFO of large churches. He serves some of the largest churches in the United States as well as denominations, colleges, universities and seminaries, rescue missions, and other nonprofits. Rob holds an MA in Ministry Management from Azusa Pacific University Graduate School of Theology and is a frequent conference speaker and author of articles on nonprofit financial matters.

All times are Central time zone

9 am—Bobby Schuller, Guardrails for Integrity
10 am—Mindy Caliguire,  Michael Martin & Warren Bird, Leadership Integrity Has Never Been More Important: What’s Your Plan to Care for and Support Your Leader?
11 am—William Vanderbloemen, Interviewing for Integrity and Assessing a Candidate’s Recovery from a Fall
Noon—Greg Wilhelm, Technology and the Influence on Church Business Integrity
1 pm—Chris Sharpe, Maintaining Discipleship Integrity in the Hybrid Church World
1:20 pm—Mark Ashcroft & Nick Cooper, Be the 20
1:40 pm—Hermann Du Plessis, Lead with Intent—Integrity Lessons from South Africa and the African Continent

Featured Guest

Guardrails for Integrity

Bobby Schuller
Lead pastor, Shepherd’s Grove Presbyterian Church and host and preaching pastor of Hour of Power

Bobby Schuller is lead pastor at Shepherd’s Grove Presbyterian Church in Irvine, California, and the host and preaching pastor of Hour of Power, a television ministry that broadcasts around the world. Bobby received his Master of Divinity from Fuller Theological Seminary. He is the author of the books, Imagine Happiness, Happiness According to Jesus, and You Are Beloved. Bobby has appeared regularly on other television shows, such as Canada’s 100 Huntley Street, TLC’s The Messengers, and TBN’s Praise. Bobby speaks to hundreds of thousands of people each week. Let’s hear Bobby speak on Guardrails of Pastoral Integrity. Bobby is positive, uplifting and Christo-centric!

Leadership Integrity Has Never Been More Important: What’s Your Plan to Care for and Support Your Leader?

Michael Martin
President, ECFA

Michael Martin became ECFA’s president in 2020. Both an attorney and a CPA, he had previously served on ECFA staff for nine years, most recently as Executive Vice President. Michael is passionate about helping churches and Christ-centered ministries maintain high standards of integrity and accountability through ECFA accreditation. He is a frequent speaker on ECFA’s webinars, videos, and podcasts, as well as a regular contributor to ECFA’s library of ebooks and other written publications.

Mindy Caliguire
Co-Founder & President, Soul Care

Mindy is the co-founder and president of Soul Care, a spiritual formation ministry that exists to increase soul health in the Body of Christ. She serves in senior leadership for Cherith Analytics, and in the past has served in executive leadership at Gloo, and at the Willow Creek Association. She speaks and advises organizations including Stadia Church Planting, various churches and ministries across the US and beyond. The Soul Care team serves organizations including Christ Church of the Valley, Dallas Theological Seminary, Plum Creek Church, and more. Mindy’s books include Discovering Soul Care and Spiritual Friendship.

Warren Bird
Senior Vice President for Research and Equipping, ECFA

Warren Bird is the Senior Vice President for Research and Equipping at the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. Warren is an award-winning writer and researcher. His background includes pastoring and seminary teaching, and a 13-year run as research director at Leadership Network. Warren has authored or co-authored more than 30 books including Hero Maker with Dave Ferguson, How to Break Growth Barriers with Carl George and Unleashing the Word with Max McLean.

Warren is a graduate of Wheaton College (BA, MA), Alliance Theological Seminary (M.Div.) and Fordham University (Ph.D.). He and his college sweetheart wife Michelle live in Metro New York City.

Resources:

Soul Care Integrity Page

Longer version of the interview with Mindy

Interviewing for Integrity and Assessing a Candidate’s Recovery from a Fall

William Vanderbloemen
CEO & Founder, Vanderbloemen

William Vanderbloemen was a pastor for 15 years and is now CEO & Founder of Vanderbloemen, an executive search firm. William started Vanderbloemen because he understands that when your team isn’t whole it disrupts your mission. He has combined his ministry experience as a Senior Pastor with the best practices of executive search to provide churches with a unique offering: a deep understanding of local church work with the very best knowledge and practices of professional executive search to complete your team. Vanderbloemen has staffed over 2,500 missions of faith.

William is the author of Next: Pastoral Succession That Works, Search: The Pastoral Search Committee Handbook, and Culture Wins: The Roadmap to an Irresistible Workplace. He is also a regular contributor to several major publications including Forbes where he covers topics about having a strong faith and building a business, Fortune, and Outreach Magazine. He has also been published through Fast Company, Entrepreneur, and Inc.

Technology and the Influence on Church Business Integrity

Greg Wilhelm
Product Operations Coordinator, Tithe.ly

Greg joined the staff of FAC Aurora as XP in January 2019. He began his ministry in his early teenage years, ultimately attending a small Bible College studying Theology. Throughout his ministry Greg has served in a variety of capacities: Assistant Pastor, District Youth President, Lead Pastor, Presbyter and more. He has also worked for Breeze and now Tithe.ly for the past 7+ years.

Maintaining Discipleship Integrity in the Hybrid Church World

Chris Sharpe
CRO, Subsplash

Chris Sharpe has been a part of the Subsplash team since 2010, helping churches grow their reach and more deeply engage their people on the discipleship journey. Chris previously worked in full time vocational ministry, has been a part of church planting, and serves regularly in youth coaching and leading worship. As the CRO at Subsplash, Chris is responsible for growth strategy and is passionate about innovations in church technology that lead to discipleship.

Be the 20

Mark Ashcraft
Senior Architectural Project Manager, Parkhill

Mark Ashcraft is a Senior Architectural Project Manager in Parkhill’s Community Sector. During his 21-year career, Mark has cultivated his belief in a collaborative approach to design that helps ensure a project’s successful completion with design excellence. He is passionate about sharing the strategic thinking behind the design, how it shapes the user experience and the importance of being mission (impact) driven in those efforts. Coupled with his passion for creating spaces to connect people together, Mark quickly discerns the client’s needs and transforms them into conceptual designs for inspiring and impactful spaces consistent with the Owner’s intended vision and desired impact.

Nick Cooper
Faith-Based Practice Leader, Parkhill

Nick Cooper is Parkhill’s Faith-Based Practice Leader and an Associate with the Community Sector at Parkhill. His unique 17-year history in vocational ministry and background in construction gives a different approach to our church sector. He has a tremendous understanding of church dynamics and a drive to affect the church for tomorrow’s generation. Nick has been preaching, teaching, and consulting with churches and organizations such as the BGCT for over 10 years on topics ranging from reaching millennials to church design and construction.

Lead with Intent—Integrity Lessons from South Africa and the African Continent

Hermann Du Plessis
Director & Founder, Themba Thandeka Leadership Institute

Hermann is the founder of the Themba Thandeka Leadership Institute, a company that has worked in more than 100 organizations in 20 countries across the globe. TTLI has built a reputation as a catalyst that significantly raises engagement and profitability.

Hermann is a leadership student with 20 years of experience, having coached, mentored, trained, and consulted in various spheres of leadership development. He is also a lecturer in leadership at tertiary institutions, as well as a moderator for various MBA programmes in their leadership curriculum.   

He is an ordained Pastor at the Mosaiek Church in Johannesburg South Africa, where he served on full-time staff for 14 years of which 9 were on executive level. Hermann serves as a consultant to the Global Leadership Network (GLN) in South Africa. He is also serving as the Transitional Pastor at Ruimsig Gemeente Community Church. Hermann has been asked to run a leadership development programme for the biggest Pentecostal denomination in South Africa—the Apostolic Faith Missionaries.

Resources: Lead with Intent – Integrity

Bonus Material

Integrity in Finances: Preventing Fraud

Vonna Laue
Senior Editorial Advisor, ChurchLaw&Tax

Vonna Laue has worked with ministries and churches for more than 25 years. Vonna was a partner with a national CPA firm serving not-for-profit entities through audit, review, tax, and advisory services. She then held the role of executive vice president for a Christian ministry that works to enhance trust in the church and ministry community. Vonna now focuses her time on financial and operational consulting for churches and ministries.

Vonna became an editorial advisor for Church Law & Tax in 2009, and a Senior Editorial Advisor in 2020.

Vonna earned her B.S. degree from Black Hills State University and her MBA degree in leadership and human resource management from the University of Colorado. She has served on local and national boards and has published articles in multiple national publications as well as co-authored three books . In 2010, Vonna was inducted into The Church Network’s Church Management Hall of Fame. Her speaking experience includes a variety of regional and national conferences.

A nationwide survey of more than 700 church leaders conducted by Church Law & Tax shows nearly one-third serve in congregations that have suffered from some form of financial misconduct. Half occurred within the past 10 years. And Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary’s Center for the Study of Global Christianity estimates church fraud globally will total $70 billion a year by 2025.

Most forms of fraud occur because of easy opportunities, notes CPA Vonna Laue, a senior editorial advisor for Church Law & Tax who helped lead the research project. In this video interview, Laue further unpacks the survey findings, what leaders can learn from these findings, and several steps churches can take to immediately reduce vulnerabilities.

Church leaders must evaluate fraud prevention as part of a larger commitment to integrity for their operations. Toward that end, Laue also shares more about “Safeguarding Your Church’s Finances,” an online video training course she developed with Church Law & Tax to help boards, senior leaders, and staff members and volunteers get smarter and savvier about fraud prevention.

Strengthen Integrity by Delegating to Others!

Brooke Cecil
Director of Client Relations, BELAY

As the Director of Client Relations for BELAY, I lead my team in providing first-class service to every client. And as someone fueled by organization and efficiency, I’m always looking for the best ways to streamline our processes – not only for my team but for the overall client experience.

I have diversified professional experience, including commercial lending, volunteer mobilization, and international logistics. And it’s that variety that puts me in a unique position to work with the equally diversified organizations that come to BELAY seeking solutions.

When I’m not serving our clients, I’m with my husband and two children planning our next trip, watching a movie, curled up with a good book or hosting a party with our closest friends.

Integrity in Financial Counsel from Your Bank

Steve Hron
Vice President in the Faith and Ministry Financial Services, Cass Commercial Bank

Steve Hron is a Vice President in the Faith and Ministry Financial Services division of Cass Commercial Bank. He has been serving churches, schools, and other nonprofits on a national basis for over 30 years. Cass Commercial Bank is headquartered in St. Louis. Steve offices out of the bank’s Colorado Springs location.

ECFA Podcasts to Strengthen Church & Pastoral Integrity

Articles to Strength Church & Pastoral Integrity

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